Rights Watch UK said Muslim children across the UK were not speaking out for fear of being reported under Prevent.
Photograph: Christopher Thomond/the Guardian

The government’s Prevent strategy aimed at combating homegrown terrorism is stifling freedom of expression within the classroom and risks being counterproductive, a human rights report warns.

Children as young as four are being wrongly identified as having been radicalised simply because of the way they pronounce words or because of clothes they wear, the study by Rights Watch UK alleges.

Its release on Wednesday coincides with the publication of a study by Ofsted, the schools inspectorate, which warns that many further education colleges and private training providers are failing to comply with the government’s anti-radicalisation programme, leaving students vulnerable to exposure to extremism.

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In nearly half the institutions inspected, Ofsted found colleges lacked the policies to deal with student access to extremist websites through their computing networks, while others failed to check or monitor external speakers as required by Prevent.

While 22 colleges and providers visited by Ofsted had properly implemented the procedures required, another 13 providers were barely meeting the regulations. Two private providers had failed to implement any parts of Prevent, despite their legal obligations to do so since September last year.

The two reports adopt opposed views on the benefits of Prevent in schools and colleges. The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, promoted by Theresa May’s Home Office, requires teachers from the childcare sector up to university to identify apparent signs of student extremism and refer youngsters to the government’s deradicalisation programme, known as Channel.

The Rights Watch investigation suggests it is counterproductive, driving children to discuss terrorism, religion and identity issues outside the classroom and online where simplistic – and jihadist – narratives go unchallenged.

Among new cases highlighted by the report, entitled Preventing Education? Human Rights and UK Counter-Terrorism Policy in Schools, is that of an eight-year-old Muslim child from east London who was “referred for intrusive questioning without his parents present” because of an apparent misidentification of an Arabic name on his T-shirt.

It carried the name Abu Bakr al-Siddique, an early convert to Islam, but was misread by school staff as being a reference to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State. After the incident, Rights Watch said, the child was reluctant to return to school or engage in classes.

In another incident, a 16-year-old from Hampshire with special needs was referred to Prevent after borrowing a book on terrorism from the school library. The teenager’s mother was asked questions by Prevent officials about whether he was being radicalised. She told Rights Watch: “If a child isn’t allowed to take a book out of a library and read it, what do they have it for? If that book is in a library any student can go and read it, then if he can’t read it, who is allowed to read it?”

The report quotes an east London teacher, Rob Faure Walker, who said: “Numerous students have said that they are scared to talk openly with adults now … I have got no doubt that Prevent isolates Muslim students.”

A four-year-old was judged to be at risk of becoming a terrorist after making drawings of a cucumber. Teachers thought he said his picture was of a ‘cooker bomb’. Photograph: BBC Asian Network

A sixth-form student, identified only as Muniadiah, told Rights Watch she was scared to speak out because the promotion of “British values” made her worry that she might say “something too extreme or someone might misunderstand … and report you to Prevent”.

The report also refers to previous controversial cases such as the four-year-old judged to be at risk of becoming a terrorist because “a teacher thought his pronunciation of ‘cucumber’ sounded like ‘cooker bomb’”; the child questioned for using the word “l’écoterrorisme” in a French lesson discussing environmental tactics; and the 17-year-old referred to Prevent for expressing solidarity with Palestine after handing out leaflets highlighting water shortages in Gaza.

Children have been referred to Prevent for legitimately exercising their right to freedom of expression

Yasmine Ahmed, Rights Watch UK

“At a time when effective and lawful counter-terrorism policies are more important than ever, the UK government’s Prevent strategy is instead leaving a generation of young Britons fearful of exercising their rights to freedom of expression and belief,” the director of Rights Watch UK, Yasmine Ahmed, said.

“Our research has found that Muslim children across the United Kingdom are self-censoring for fear of being reported under Prevent. Their fear is not unwarranted. We have uncovered a number of instances where children have been referred to Prevent for legitimately exercising their right to freedom of expression in situations where they pose no threat to society whatsoever.”

Rights Watch calls for the Prevent strategy in schools to be abandoned, however, in response to its report, a government spokesperson said: “Schools should provide a safe space for debate and be places where young people can discuss any issue and develop the knowledge to see extremist ideologies for what they are and challenge them. The Prevent duty is about safeguarding children from extremist ideologies, not about shutting down debate – to suggest otherwise is just wrong.

“Since 2011 more than 400,000 people, including teachers, have received training on how to recognise the signs of radicalisation and what steps they should take. Our recent teachers’ omnibus survey shows the impact of that with 83% per cent of school leaders confident in how they should implement the Prevent duty. We have also published a range of advice and resource materials via our Educate Against Hate website.”

The Ofsted report, in contrast to that of Rights Watch, said: “Too many providers see the Prevent duty as little more than a ‘tick-box exercise’ and do not regard it as an important part of their responsibilities towards learners.”

Paul Joyce, Ofsted’s deputy director for further education and skills, said: “It is concerning that in some colleges and providers the progress made in implementing the duty has been slow. It is worrying that inspectors saw examples of poor practice that I’ve no doubt would shock parents and learners alike.”

In one case highlighted by the report, a student was able to circumvent computer firewalls and access an Isis video showing a person being beheaded.

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“The learner had been watching the video for some time before being challenged by a teacher walking through the [resource centre]. The teacher made the learner close the web page. The learner showed no remorse about what she had done. The learner received no support or counselling from the college and was not reprimanded in any way,” the report said.

Ofsted also found that six of the colleges had no arrangements to check the suitability of external speakers, while nine providers allowed external speakers to appear without following their own monitoring procedures.

But Ofsted did praise some institutions for their efforts, including Luton sixth-form college for developing influential links with local groups as well as the borough council.

David Corke, the director of education and skills policy at the Association of Colleges, said: “Colleges have been working incredibly hard to implement the duty and they will continue to do so as the threat of radicalisation and terrorism is ever present.”